as long as there is hope
by chaotc
Summary: Hope is valuable. Sometimes it's all you have; and if you have it, you have everything.
1. Part 1: Daily Life

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Makoto had called it the Avatar Suite. A total of twenty pods are laid out like numbers on a clock face, fifteen for the Ultimate Despairs, another five for emergencies; Hinata supposed that, at least, considering what happened with the Future Foundation and their intervention just a couple of weeks ago. The room itself is spacious, contained within the administrative building come facility on the central island - the landmass is almost entirely occupied by the large building, just as Sonia had read in that leaflet so long ago. The game seems to stretch away from the five remaining students - by now, it's little more than a bizarre nightmare to them. It still haunts them, though. They doubt it will ever stop. Watching your friends kill and be killed is a step up from what Hinata remembers of his nightmares as a child; he'd climb into his mother's bed, he'd fall asleep with her arms around him, her voice telling him he was alright./p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Today he checks on his comatose peers in their respective pods pods. He and the other survivors have been awake for a fortnight or so now - the Future Foundation trio, the convenient survivors of the high school killing, had left the island as soon as humanly possible, to report back to HQ. Or so they had said. Hinata had no idea where HQ was, or what they were going to report, or whether they would even be safe when they got there.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"After all, the world's dangerous nowadays.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Wordless, but brow tightening in contemplation, he swipes a cloth over the top panel of one of the pods. The panel's transluscent, grey-blue in colour, and made of a thick, hard material. Makoto had told Hinata they were bullet proof, and Souda suggested testing the feature out on Komaeda's pod. (Of course, everyone else refused, but silently Hinata realised that Komaeda's would be the first pod he'd use.) They're very futuristic looking things, too - the kids left alive had been hesitant to touch them at first, as if fearing that this was still fiction, or that they'd break the equipment. Time alone had been able them that they were actually pretty robust - they had to be, in this day and age, especially as they played such a vital role in the Hope Restoration Program - and that they even had a backup generator which could keep them running for 24 hours in case of a power shortage.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"24 hours wasn't long enough, Hinata suggested. Especially considering power was near impossible to get back once it was gone in such a secluded place - a day was nowhere near long enough to accept that not only were your friends not going to wake up, but they were also officially dead.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"'Shut down'.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The thinnest sheen of dust lifts from the plexiglass window, and Hinata finds himself focusing more than is necessary on the serene face beneath it. The boy's pale, untroubled face is delicately framed by snowy white hair, split into awry waves, and for a while, Hinata just stands, rag twisted between his fists, halfway between feeling anger and some strange sense of longing. As close as he is growing to the other four (after all, the only company they have is themselves) he kind of wishes for the Komaeda he met when he woke up on the island to talk to him again. Sure, it was bordering unsettling with how calm he had been, but that calm was exactly what Hinata had found he needed in those first couple of That, and he wanted to hear from Komaeda himself what had happened./p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"With a resigned sigh, Hinata straightens out the cloth and moves on to the next pod.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It doesn't take him long to finish with the remaining tasks - just Ibuki's and the Ultimate Imposter's pods, then checking on the power usage and the conditions of the Ultimate Despairs, and he's done. Taking one last affirming glance around the Avatar Suite, he hoists his bag onto his shoulder, taking barely two steps forward before hearing a soft thud from behind him.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""...?"p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Turning carefully, he sees that his bag is open, the main flap of it hanging over. A couple of his belongings teeter onthe edge of the zip, and something had already fallen out - if the noise he'd heard was any indicator. With an irritated tutting sound, he places his bag back down and closed it, scanning the ground for the lost object.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"After maybe a few minutes of scanning and swiping his hands under the pods, Hinata's fingers curl around the felt handle of a small pink bag. He draws it out from underneath, brushing off the dust and a few moments pass as he stares at the object, almost like he expects it to respond. As if concerned that the bodies within the pods were watching him and judging his pensive attitude at the appearance of the bag, he quickly shouldered his own sack and looking almost furtively over his shoulder before shuffling towards the door.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He'd forgotten he had it, in all honesty. The cute felt face of a cat smiles up at him from the top of the bag, and it smells of washing powder. (When it had fallen off of Chiaki during her execution, there was a streak of blood on it. He couldn't let that stay.)p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hinata doesn't put it away as he makes his way back to the hotel (their cottages are maybe more unkempt and older than they remembered, scattered with spiderwebs and the wooden panels of the walls beginning to creak and groan with age, but instinct led them to the ones they had been originally assigned, and that was the way that it stayed) thumbs rubbing over the furry surface of the fabric. He doesn't watch the road ahead of him as he walks. It's not like he's going to bump into anyone on this island, not when there's so many places to be and so little life to fill them with - it's a lonely idea, Hinata realises, and erases the thought from his mind. Jabberwock seems more deserted than it ever did in the past, even when there were only one or two more people to keep them company. Even now that the air reeks so much less of death.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Even when Chiaki, who was likely no more than a file on a database, was the only one left alive to comfort the five of them.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-style: oblique;"Having talent isn't the goal, spanhe remembers she said. Crystal clear in his head, her voice rings out - he feels a pang in his chest at the sensation of her being very nearly next to him. span style="font-style: oblique;"There's something much more important than whether or not you have talent, right? What's important is that you believe in yourself. If you can't do that, no matter how much talent you possess, you will never be confident in yourself./span/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hinata pauses, his feet coming to a halt in the middle of the quiet dust track, just staring at the bag as if he expects it to do something, to talk to him with the same sort of clarity that his mind synthesised.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-style: oblique;"I'll...be cheering for you, too.span/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He wonders for a moment if Chiaki knew about Izuru Kamukura. As part of the game, she should have, really - any background information would no doubt to be beneficial to someone who was supposed to be sharing the responsibility of the lost and despairing children entrusted into the hands of the game, after all. Maybe, as a human, she wanted to tell him about it.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But likely, as a string of code and nothing more, she was unable to. Maybe that's why she came back.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"With a swallow that hurts his throat, Hinata carries on his lonely way, the only sound on the road being that of his shoes against the dry dirt and the ocean a few hundred metres away.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He doesn't sleep that night. It storms as he lies in bed, the humid heat of the room dragging him out from under the covers and left to watch the rain pummel the window almost expectantly. With every drop that collects on the sill, dawn inches closer. Hinata figures the only difference between day and night is fundamentally just the change in light - he could always just sleep in the daytime.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Either way, he can't manage to drift off - every time he goes to settle beneath the covers, he feels his bed rocking, he hears thunder clap outside, and he sees her shadow in the doorway of the bathroom.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Hey, Hajime. We didn't see you much yesterday. What gives?"p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Souda's almost accusing tone snaps Hinata from his reverie over breakfast. Raising his attention from his plate of rice and tamagoyaki, Hinata gives the mechanic a blank look, fork pushing food around the plate even without his eye contact. He's tired, of course he is, and he's silenced by the known presence of Chiaki's bag on his bed, on top of the pillow. He knows nobody will go in there - he's locked the door, anyway, seeing as Ibuki didn't break it in the real world. "You seem distracted, man."p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Do not bother him about it, " Sonia scolds mildly, though a smile remains on her fair lips as she focuses her eyes on Hinata. She's finished eating, and is sitting politely back in her chair with her hands in her lap. "I'm sure it's something private, is it not, Hajime? "p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hinata offers something that's in between a head shake and a nod in response, and returns to his rice. It takes him longer than anyone else to finish, but when he does he finds that now even Akane's usually food-distracted eyes are on him - but now Souda is away from the table with his back to the rest of the students. His elbows are pointed upwards, hands behind his head; he's staring out of the window at the sky above. Being in such a secluded and exclusive part of the world has its benefits, Hinata supposes, and he's fairly sure the rest of them feel the same. Sure, he can't see his family, or his friends from the life before (and if what Junko said was true, then they're probably all dead anyway). Worse of all, he can't know for sure whether what Junko and the Future Foundation trio that visited them said about the rest of the world was true.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But he came quickly to the conclusion that maybe taking the m on their word without complaint was the easiest way to go about the situation.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I reckon we should do something today. Like, you know on the first day we got here, and Monomi gave us those swimsuits, and we all went swimming? Something like that." Souda's voice is quiet, but his voice has a positive chime to it. It kind of uplifts Hinata a little - and while none of them suppose for a second that he is completely innocent in what he's suggesting, what with two girls in the room, there is no disagreement.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Sonia twists in her chair to face him, nodding with a keen smile. "I think that is a nice idea, Kazuichi," she agrees, and Souda practically glows with pride.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"There is a creak from the other side of the table - Hinata turns his head. Fuyuhiko, who has been equally quiet this breakfast time, stands from the table and excuses himself audibly, padding out of the room. Despite the return of the missing half of his eyesight - when the avatars were uploaded into their current bodies, they all found the to be as undamaged as they were the day they fell asleep - he was growing quieter, more distant. Hinata didn't overlook the idea of it being his second loss of Peko (and everyone else, for that matter) for a moment. Things may be getting easier with every passing day, but Hinata knows it's as hard for the rest of them as it is for him. Losing the others once was a bad enough situation for a group of kids to be in, but in having the hope of them returning stashed as quickly as it had been a couple of weeks ago had been salt in their wounds.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Fuyuhiko still seem to be feeling the sting.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Y'know, Kazuichi, I think we can put the beach on hold for...just one more day, 'lright?" Akane's voice is uncharacteristically soft as she picks up her plate - cleanly polished, as ever - and begins piling all of the cutlery on top of it. Hinata just watches her slow movements, and then as Souda turns and moves away from the window. They talk quietly among themselves - Hinata doesn't know what about, little things, and though he can't tell what they're saying, the sound of their whispers is comforting. It's as if there was a point where they stopped being a group of friends stuck on an island together, and started being some sort of disjointed family faced with an awful tragedy. And though it's sad, though it's hard, they're all there for each other, and they'll make it through.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That's exactly the kind of hope that Chiaki would encourage.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hope is valuable. Sometimes it's all you have, and it's all you can rely on when you have nothing else. As Souda and Akane slip through the doors into the small kitchen, Hinata takes his leave, the door making next to no noise as he closes it behind him. The sky is a clear blue, and from the hotel he can smell the faintest hint of the salty ocean on the air. The Jabberwock Isles are beautiful, and they're safe, and they're away from the carnage of the Tragedy; even though their friends couldn't survive to see this, here the five of them stand in their stead, and that knowledge comes with a poignant kind of relief.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-style: oblique;"Yes, hope is valuablespan, Hinata reminds himself past the sour, stinging feeling at the back of his throat, past the tightness in his chest that rings with a distinct echo of Chiaki herself. His legs begin to drag him down the steps towards the hotel's outdoor pool. The surface glistens like a cut diamond in the sunlight, reflecting up onto the walls. span style="font-style: oblique;"If you have it, you have everything-/span/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-is what he thinks. And he thinks it with such confidence that he sees her smile in his head, as if it's whispered to him, almost manages to imagine her hand grasping his. Her breathing at his side, warmth, closeness, hope, hope, hope.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He carries on thinking like that. Onlookers might have commented on the smile that begins to appear on his lips as he clenches his fist as if holding another hand within his own - until he sees smoke rising from the central island.p 


	2. Part 2: Deadly Life

p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's just as he'd imagined. Hinata runs as fast as he can towards the central island, having to push past Souda when he tries to ask where he's going in such a rush. This means trouble, he knows it does, and believing the worst sends his chest shaking a shuddering with the recoil of his heart thudding so hard against his sternum that he thinks it might break./p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The island scenery doesn't seem to move past him quickly enough. It's as if the world's moving in slow motion, and running doesn't come easily when your legs feel like lead. Dread feels like it is hardening in his blood - there are moments where he is unsure his heart is even still beating, and then others where he thinks it is running ten times as quickly as he is trying to. He thinks he's probably crying by the time he reaches the doors, but he doesn't care why, or about who sees. The air is thickening with swaying sheets of smoke and Hinata's hand is shaking as he presses his thumb onto the panel to his right.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The door to the facility slides open, and smoke billows out, galloping past him and over him and trying to go through him like some sort of wild stampede. Hinata, foolishly, goes to take a breath; heat sears the inside of his throat and he chokes, stumbling out of the way of the flow. Even from out here, he can feel the heat of whatever happened on his arms and face, but he knows he has to brave the unpredictable terrain inside the facility and investigate. There's no time to get the others, nor to visit what used to be the supermarket to fetch a gasmask. Hinata grabs the end of his tie and holds it over his mouth and nose to at least try to filter out some of the harsh smoke, before shouldering his way inside.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's dark. There's broken glass on the floor - Hinata feels the crunch of it beneath his feet, and reckons the light fittings broke from the heat. He curses under his breath as he continues, wishing he'd thought to bring a light - the glow from a faraway flame is very little to find his way around by, but Hinata's visited the Avatar Suite so much in this last couple of weeks that his path there pretty much relies on muscle memory.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It's easy enough, at the beginning. As he moves from wall to wall, he finds the mild heat on his face intensify, as if he's leaning towards an open fire. Occasionally there will be a faraway bang, and he'll have to turn away from the incoming cloud of ash sent spiralling up from the floor.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Wall to wall, five steps forward, hand on desk, hand on chair, wall, wall-p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-chest.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Laugh.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hinata's heel skids on ash as he stumbles back a little. The light is not enough to see a few inches in front of him, never mind to get a good look at the obstacle he's facing. It wasn't there the day before. And normal obstacles don't usually chuckle when they're hit. Instantly Hinata feels his heart begin to race in his chest, worse than before, and ragged breaths force their way through the tie and it's in this moment of panic that he realises he doesn't know where he is.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He's trapped.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-style: oblique;""Ah, Hajime. I was looking for you."span/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hinata's foot creaks against a cluster of glass. There's movement ahead of him, as the other person moves closer. In his confusion, he manages to pick apart the situation, and realises that this is most likely the one who set off the fire in the first place.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The air reeks. His throat hurts.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I didn't think for a moment you'd be the one to come looking, though…not someone as powerless as you." Another step forward. Hinata can practically feel their sneer on the side of his face as he glances about feverishly. Even in the darkness he can sense his eyesight is fading. His head is swimming. His lungs feel like they're on fire. "Not that I'm disappointed! Your heroism saved some time."p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The light flickers on. Hinata is barely able to register this as strange before he notices that the light's not coming from above him, but directly ahead of him - it's bright. His company seems to be wearing some sort of headlight, and it's glaring right into his eyes.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He feels his knees buckle. The other person laughs again.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-style: oblique;""Hajime, you've done so well."span/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A step forward. A hand raised - there is a thick scar on the wrist, all the way around, decorated with tight black stitches that look like they've been in too long. Hinata feels the last gasp of clean island air leave his mouth, only to be replaced by thick ash; it feels like glass in his throat and like cement in his lungs. He can't speak. His legs are weakening.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"For a moment, the glare leaves his eyes, and Hinata gets a glimpse of who is in front of him. A pair of grey-green eyes glisten in the light from the fire - Hinata sees them through the panels of a black gas mask, and they watch him, scarily calm. The filter gives the person's breathing a hollow, dead sound, and there's blood on the side of the mask, dried quickly in the facility's arid heat. Their hair is messy, white like the ash settled delicately in it like the first snow of winter, and the face is pale and soot-streaked. The hand's nails are long and painted red - Hinata only sees it for a moment before it comes into contact with his throat. It doesn't occur to him to think back to the trial in the old building, when Naegi told them what a certain student had done to himself.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Your hope won, even faced with the strongest and darkest of despairs…"p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The fingers around his throat feel cold, and it don't move, don't close, but the palm is thrust into Hinata's neck; the movement forces his jaw open as he takes another heave of the putrid air. It feels like swallowing needles. His eyes water, his head hurts.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-style: oblique;""…I'm so proud of you."span/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Feels sick. Wants to sleep. Far away, there's a loud groan, a snap, a thud - the building's falling apart, and Hinata doesn't know his way out. His fate rests in the hands of the fiend before him. That much is obvious.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But he can't dwell on it much longer - he's so dizzy he can barely see, and his head pounds as if there's something inside fighting to get out. He can't breathe. His hands shake and the moment the other person's hand releases his neck he falls down, feeling his head hit the floor, feeling the heat of the usually cool metal, and then there's nothing else.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The last thing he hears, as he swims between wake and sleep, is quiet, wheezing laughter, floating over the smoke to him like a warning siren over the ocean…p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hinata wakes up.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His hair is slicked back with sweat, and he's shivering. When he breathes in, he finds the air to be cool and fresher than it had been before, which is a relief - he breathes the air greedily, as if he's about to be exposed to the smoke of the facility again. As his senses gradually return to him, he realises he's lying snug in a bed, covers drawn high around his chest, arms neatly laid at his sides - one quick glance around confirms that he is in his room. Continuing to blink wearily and swallow past the dryness of his throat, he notices that someone is watching him. There's a blurry form hovering by the bed.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The voice comes from above him, and Hinata flinches at the sudden sound. It's almost reminiscent of Hinata's first day in the game, waking up with sand in his mouth and the sun in his eyes to someone leaning over him, waving a pale hand in his eyes and smiling. There was a hint of concern in his grey-green eyes, but he was calm, scarily calm, more so than any of the other students. Hinata had felt himself drawn to the boy, though while his serenity soothed his nerves ninety percent of the time there was always a nagging apprehension at the back of his mind (which was proven to be right).p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="font-style: oblique;"Hey, are you alright? spanbr /...You sure look /I am, too, you know. We all /I mean...with all the crazy stuff that happened...br /...br /...Hey, are you listening?/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"But now there is no Komaeda talking to him, almost silhouetted by the brightness of the sun behind him. He can't feel the sunlight on his skin, nor can he smell the sea - just the distant impression of smoke and fire pressing into his mind and the coolness of the fanwindow combination on his face - plus a pair of bright hazel eyes staring down at him. Hinata imagines that this is how a worm feels just before being captured by a bird, and because of this the word "threat" reads plainly in his mind and he tries to move away but his back hits the wall and a hand touches his wrist. It's cold, and the fingers are rough with callouses./p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You passed out." The gravelly voice reassures him somewhat, and Fuyuhiko lets him settle back into the pillow. The gangster's small form loiters at the side of him, and Hinata takes another tentative lungful of breath. Fuyuhiko's edges become a little clearer.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The air smells of smoke.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His brow tightens above his closed eyes as he tries to remember what happened for him to end up like this. All he manages to recall is a rising column of dark grey, seeing it, running towards it - thinking it's the central island, it's the admin building, it's the Admin Suite, it's the span style="font-style: oblique;"Admin Suitespan- and he remembers the ash falling like snow. It burned his skin. There was a face, fire dancing in the eyes of it - a laugh, some mention of hope, a long-nailed but unresponsive hand seeming to reach for Hinata's throat-/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"-before Fuyuhiko interrupts and tells him his version of events.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""The facility…there was an explosion. A big one. We don't know what caused it, but we only just managed to check on the others, the smoke took so long to clear…" He pauses, hands in his pockets. "…a couple of them…they died. We're pretty sure, anyway. Sonia found Gundam first and there was blood span style="font-style: oblique;"everywherespan, and Hiyoko was on the floor with a big ass gash on her head. And Nagito was nowhere to be found - plus, his pod was smashed up pretty bad. I think it's safe to say he's not salvagable."/p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Hinata goes to tell Fuyuhiko what he saw in the break, but his throat feels raw and dry. He doesn't think it's just the smoke anymore.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""You went in on your own and we had to fish you out. The power's down. It's been maybe three hours since the incident…which means we have twenty one hours left, if that Naegi guy was right."p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""…I…"p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Fuyuhiko nudges the chair out of the way with his foot, moving towards the door. "Anyway. Sonia said you should stay here for the time being. Get your breath back." And with that, he leaves. Hinata watches the door swing closed without turning his head - it's clear he's afraid, if only for the safety of the bodies left in the pods.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Though there's something else that nags him about who he saw in the smoke. Something about the hair, the eyes, the hand - even the gas mask fastened to their face. Of course he knows what that means, who it was - but his consciousness is suppressing it. He doesn't want to know. He tells himself it was all a dream and settles back down. The door clicks closed behind Fuyuhiko and Hinata is relieved to realise that he doesn't have to say anything.p  
>p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Not yet.p 


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